Abigail Osborne’s unmissable The Puppet Master, a stunning thriller full of twists and turns.

Billie is hiding from the world in fear of a man who nearly destroyed her. But a chance meeting with a budding journalist, Adam, sparks a relationship that could free her from her life of isolation and fear.

Unbeknownst to Billie, Adam knows exactly who Billie is and is determined to expose her and get justice for the lives he believes she has ruined. But first, he needs to convince her to open up to him. As an unwanted attraction blossoms between them, Adam comes to realise that all is not as it seems. 

Who is really pulling the strings? And are Adam and Billie both being played? 

One thing is for sure, The Master wants his puppets back – and he’ll do anything to keep them

Our Review

I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Puppet Master, despite the sometimes-harrowing content that made it an emotional roller coaster!

Right from the beginning, I empathised with Billie, the sad and traumatised leading lady. I wanted to know why she was so terrified of being found, and who by.

When Adam, the newspaper reporter enters the story, determined to expose Billie for something she was supposed to have done, the tension as he tries to break down her defences is heart-breaking. Gradually, he peels back her protective layers, exposing the raw emotions that hid underneath her fear.

I kept hoping Adam would change his mind when his feelings for her began to grow, and take pity on someone who has already suffered enough, but his need for justice seemed too strong.

There is an unpleasant element to this story, but it is handled with great care by the author. By the time I had finished reading the second part of the book, I was desperate for some happiness for Billie. All the signs were there, but I knew it couldn’t happen, not yet.

Watching Adam when he finally learns the truth about Billie was almost as painful as the lie he originally believed.

The last part of this book piled on the tension yet again, and I geared myself up for a gripping ending. But the ending totally caught me by surprise.  It made my blood run cold!

A very absorbing well-written plot, the evil winds its way throughout everything, strangling and contaminating everything in its path…

Excerpt from The Puppet Master

He took her silence as an agreement and moved over to her; kneeling in front of her. She didn’t stop him as he slowly lifted her top until he got to the large, nasty looking red mark that the bike wheel had left on her side. Already it was beginning to swell and bruise. Trickles of blood leaked out of a few cuts where the wheel had twisted her skin. As she looked at him, she saw a fury burning in his eyes that brought a tear to her eye. He barely knew her but he had shown more care for her than any of her family ever had.

She knew more than anyone that men could make you feel like the centre of their universe then throw you away once they had got what they wanted. The logical part of her brain was insisting that this was Adam’s agenda, that he was no different, but at that moment she simply couldn’t believe it. “I don’t think you’ve broken anything.” He got up to go to the bathroom and came back with a wet flannel. He gently washed her side with a tenderness that she didn’t know men were capable of. Once finished, he lowered her top and sat back on his knees. “Can I get you some painkillers or something?” “I can’t have any.” He shot her a surprised look and she added, “I’ll be okay.” “Why can’t you? Allergies?” He had answered his own question so she just agreed and then lay back on the bed. It was tiring trying to mask the extent of the pain she felt. She knew that she would need to clean up her legs too, but there was no way that she was doing that in front of him.

Adam took his phone out of his pocket and passed it to her. “You need to call the police.” She couldn’t face sitting up so she reached out to take the phone—even though she had no intention of using it. While she weighed up what she could say to convince him, she couldn’t help but notice how the locks of unruly blonde hair that had fallen on to his forehead augmented his handsome features. Why did someone like him even care what happened to someone like her? She was a nobody…

Abigail is originally from the Lake District but moved to the West Midlands for University where she completed an English Literature & History degree and also met her husband. She is a passionate reader and has an unsustainable collection of books. This obsession with books has led to her creating her own Dewey decimal system and she has been known to issue fines to family and friends if her book is not returned on time. Writing The Puppet Master has unleashed a love of writing and Abigail hopes to put her scarily crazy imagination to good use. She is currently working on book 2 and 3 and looks forward to publishing these soon.
You can follow me on @Abigail_Author
Website: http://www.abigailosborne.co.uk